Rack Magazine

Dominant Eye, Dominant Buck

By Mike Handley

Discovering you’ve been shooting the wrong bow for 10 years is sort of like waking up to realize you’d rather wear pearls than a grunt call. Brady Scheffler might be comfortable with his choice of accessories, but he realized about a month before the 2012 deer season opened that he was far less certain of his shooting orientation. He&rs... READ MORE

Hand on Gloves

By Lisa Price

Had three deer not crossed the road in front of Jamie Schesser’s truck a couple of days before the 2011 rifle season opened in Kansas, his nephew never would’ve considered sitting in a stand most family members had long written off as a waste of time. But one of those whitetails wore a very tall rack, so thick at the bases that the antl... READ MORE

Two Bucks, One Tag … and Completely Legal

By Lisa Price

Three days into Illinois’ 2011 bow season, Billy Foster glimpsed a stud of a buck at 70 yards. He saw it for only 30 seconds, but he was bowled over by the girth of the deer’s baseball bat-sized right main beam, which is why he nicknamed it Louisville. Completely besotted, he hated to go back home to El Dorado, Ark. While hunting the sa... READ MORE

Her Kingdom for X-Ray Vision!

By Gita M. Smith

Rhonda Farley’s arms were hurting. Big time. But whenever she tried to lower her muzzleloader for some relief, her hands would shake uncontrollably. For nearly half an hour, her arms and hands waged a silent war until, ultimately, she resorted to wedging her left elbow into her hip for support. All this for a buck whose rack she had not yet f... READ MORE

Antlers Maximus

By Ed Waite

Call it kismet. Had Kenny Corwin arrived at his hunting spot a few minutes earlier or later last December, there would be one more 20-gauge shotshell in his box of slugs and quite a few more dollars in his bank account right now. In fact, the only thing that didn’t work out for the Ohio deer hunter in 2011 was that his kids weren’t with... READ MORE

Walter Gets His Groove Back

By Ed Waite

Walter Mitchell almost quit hunting last year. The bowhunter from New Madison, Ohio, was so upset over losing a buck, he spent half of November and nearly all of December feeling sorry for himself. Seven yards should’ve been easy-breezy, but the arrow clipped an unseen limb and veered off course, piercing the deer’s paunch and burying i... READ MORE

The Biggest Thing in the World

By Mike Handley

A wide-eyed Shane Ragon clapped a hand to his open mouth like he was trying to swallow a cuss word in the presence of a preacher. The 40-year-old bowhunter from Calhoun City, Miss., didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, to shout hallelujah or utter something less suitable for a tent revival. What he did know was that every time he tried to wal... READ MORE

Venison with a Side of Crow

By Mike Handley

When Danny Culpepper sent his son, Fletcher, a text message on Oct. 22, 2012, asking if he could carry some material in to camouflage his ladder stand, he had no idea Fletcher was sitting in the stand and had just shot a deer from it. He knew only that his 27-year-old son was hunting the 55 acres, which is why he thought to ask before driving back ... READ MORE

Making the Grade

By Rusty Johnson

The taxidermy tag on this set of antlers read “MINE.” Try telling Ryan Odenbrett that life is fair. He wanted to go bowhunting on the cool gray afternoon of Oct. 20. He knew exactly which stand to visit, too. But the conflicted sophomore at Southern Missouri really needed every available hour to study for a biology test. Or did he? His ... READ MORE

Blessing in Disguise

By Rob Meade

Misjudging distance might’ve cost this Ohio man a 10-pointer, but the consolation prize wore a drop tine. Eager to learn more about the property he’d bought in December 2009, Tony Amyx spent a lot of time scouting it the following spring and summer. He also collected numerous trail camera photographs of the deer there, including a fabul... READ MORE

Rabbits, Ribbing and Other People’s Bucks

By Ed Waite

When Eric Williams and his wife, Angela, grew weary of living in a cramped suburb near Cincinnati, Ohio, they began searching for a place where Eric and their three sons could play outdoors. In May 2010, they bought a house on 17 acres in Warren County. You’d think Eric would’ve spent every spare moment in a deer stand the next fall, bu... READ MORE

Life’s Good in Dellwood

By Mike Handley

Top of Florida’s Semi-Irregular list. Brandon Alday’s 4-year-old son, Hayes, nearly choked him when the yelling commenced. The boy was getting a free ride on his father’s shoulders when Brandon’s flashlight beam fell across the buck he was convinced he’d either missed or maimed. “I started screaming like a little... READ MORE

Why Leonard was Late for Church

By Ed Waite

Hunters on both sides of the Red River were gunning for this driftwood-wearing buck. This story is not about Leonard Ernst, but it might explain why he almost skipped Sunday morning services last Nov. 7. It most definitely accounts for the bare pew in Andy Anderson’s church. Andy didn’t intend to play hooky that day, but he had his hand... READ MORE

Down to the Wire

By Mike Handley

Two bullets, two years and two MONSTROUS bucks! Folks who fill their single buck tags on opening day might not complain, but, if they’re honest about it, they’d rather be in a stand than spend the remainder of deer season moping around the house or hunting vicariously with whispering television hunters. Tracy Atchison doesn’t have... READ MORE

Bullion Buck

By Mike Handley

Fort Knox Holds More Than Just Guns and Gold! Justin Corn hunts like there’s no tomorrow. The 24-year-old knows all about uncertainties. He joined the army after graduating high school in Clanton, Ala. He was in Iraq from 2007 through 2009, and he spent five months in Afghanistan last year before winding up at Fort Knox near Elizabethto... READ MORE